Another first cycle question

[peterat33rpm]

Hi all - I, like many here, have a question about my first saltwater cycle. I’m setting up a Fluval flex 32.5, stocked with about 15 or so pounds of live rock from an lfs and 7-10 pounds of dry, and 30 pounds of carribsea sand. I dosed with ammonia chloride up to 2ppm and then used Fritz turbo start. Salinity last I checked was ~35, if that matters.

Ammonia went from 2->1->0.5->0, and has now been at 0 for 2 days. Nitrite seems high at about 3 for the last 2 days, a nitrate is reading ~30 or so which as I understand can be arrifactual from nitrite presence (pic is the latest test from tonight, sorry for not great pic).

Am I cycled? Should I re-dose ammonia to make sure it gets knocked back down to 0? Are the nitrite and nitrate readings something to be worried about? I’ve seen conflicting opinions in the various threads on this topic here, so apologies if this has been answered a bunch.

Lastly - when I do add fish, would I add some snails and/or other CUC inverts at the same time, or wait until it’s more established?

Thanks very much for any advice!

 

[fishywishy]

You can do a water change and you should be good to add fish, or you could just leave it and wait for it to go down just to be safe. It could just be the the test kit is inaccurate.

I would wait a few weeks after getting fish to add a CUC because there’s nothing for them to eat yet.

 

[peterat33rpm]

Ok that sounds like a plan, thanks!

 

[Jekyl]

If you added wet live rock everything else wasn't necessary.

 

[peterat33rpm]

So I tested again today and my nitrite and nitrate are down to 0, but my ammonia is now back up to 0.25 after having been at 0. How is this possible without having added any fish or ammonia chloride?

Along the same lines, if it’s going to be another week or so before I get fish, should I re-dose ammonia chloride so the bacteria don’t die?